Is The Serpent Hiding in Your House?

Is the Serpent Hiding In Your House?
By Rev. Robert P. Elkins
All Scripture verse taken from the NIV Bible unless otherwise noted
That's an interesting sermon title don't you think? You're most likely thinking to yourself “ I don't know what he's talking about but there isn't any serpent hiding in my house! I'm a Christian.” I would like to think all of us were able to say in all certainty that the serpent isn't hiding in our house but sad to say this isn't the case for more than we want to admit, and in many cases we don't even know it. You see the serpent I'm talking about isn’t a physical snake with that clod skin and unblinking eye that causes us to steer clear of it when we see it, its Satan and he's a liar and a cheat and a thief. He's really out there and he's really trying to steal something away from us, and what is this that he’s trying to steal you may ask? Our intimacy with our God! This serpent is very good at hiding and he comes in a wide variety of disguises. In this little teaching today I won't be able to cover or reveal all of the places this serpent is able to hide in our homes but there are many, but the reality is that for many of us we know where those hiding places are and choose to ignore it. But just maybe I will be able to shed a little light on some of his hiding places that we really didn't think of before now. And maybe we did think of them but said, " what can it hurt?" and mind you, once we develop that “What can it hurt?” mentality we have just fallen into one of Satan’s traps, we’ve accepted one of his lies and deceptions.

To start with God doesn't want that serpent, Satan, in our house at all. God's word tells us in no uncertain terms that we are not to have the ungodly things in our home; we are not to have the things that would lead us away from God, the things that would cause us to stumble and fall into sin. The things that blind us into thinking, “It's okay, everyone else is doing it”. We, the Christians of the world have been called to a higher standard than the people who follow the things of the world. God had placed his mark on us and set us aside as his children, we are sanctified, and we have been set aside by God, for God. We are to be the beacon of light that illuminates the world for the ungodly to follow and we can't do that if we are following the standards the world follows and think to ourselves, "It's okay, everyone else does it." You see friend, when God said “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”(1st Peter 1:16) KJV he meant it, he wants us to be holy in all that we do and we can’t follow the ways of the world and be holy both at the same time. Look at what the Old Testament has to say about the things we have in our homes.

(Deuteronomy 7:26) “Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you like it, will be set apart for destruction. Utterly abhor and detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.”

It seems somewhat simple to me; God doesn't mince his words here. Don't bring it (the detestable things) into your house or you like it will be set apart for destruction. Friend, that is not the set “apart we” are looking for, that’s not sanctification, that’s not being set apart for holy use, that’s set apart for sure destruction. I don't know about you but that kind of language emanating from the thoughts and mind of God will always get my attention! In this verse God was talking about the false idols the people of Israel were starting to collect. The little gold and silver trinkets the people of the world were making and worshiping and using to replace the devotion that should be given to God and God alone.

Now today we may not have a little gold statue sitting in our living room with three heads and three eyes in each head and a candleholder in the center of the middle head but we may have a few false idols we don't think of. We may have a few items that can lead us away for a godly life and draw us into the worldly fashion of today. One of our biggest false idols that can lead us down the wrong road, and there is most likely several in every home. The Television!

Check out the television’s listing of prime time shows. Look at the listing of the television shows that are listed as "family viewing time". For the young ladies there are the Brittany Spears and her look a likes flaunting their bodies and revealing as much flesh as possible. Thousands upon thousands of young girls are walking around in clothes that are to tight and to small, they don't fit properly and are nothing but 100% designed to scream sexuality to anyone that will look. And take my word for it, the young men and yes even the older men are looking and the thoughts this style of dress produces is nothing even close to the thoughts God would want his men to have and the girls are fully aware of what they are doing. And how do we justify this as a young woman who is supposed to be a Christian and how do Christian parents justify allowing their daughters to dress in this fashion? "Everyone else is doing it, it's just a phase they are going through." Another lie straight from the mouth of Satan!

As a minister of the word of God I must tell you the truth, as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ I am obligated to tell you the truth and the truth is that whether everyone else is doing it or not, we shouldn’t be doing it, if it is wrong than it is wrong and it's not what a Christian should be doing. It's high time the church started getting back to addressing what is right and what is wrong and quit trying to please everyone at the expense of insulting God. Ladies, as a young Christian woman you are to be a witness of Jesus Christ. And leading men to ungodly thoughts is not in God’s plan of things. And to the parent or parents of a young lady, we as the adult and person holding the responsibility and placed in charge of the raising of our child have a responsibility to uphold the values we know are good and proper and it's us the parent or parents who make the final decision as to how our children dress. We aren’t to leave that type of decision up to the child and we don't allow the child to control our home. God has set in order the hierarchy of the Christian home and it sure doesn't start with the child being the head or in charge and then have that authority trickle down to the parent. We have gotten things upside down and we need to get them right side up again. It's high time we place God on the top and Satan at the bottom. It’s high time we toss out the things that offend God and the things He has instructed us to avoid and part of that is getting our priorities in order and set a standard in our homes as to who is the person in that position of authority and who is not and it must be the parent or parents that decree what is acceptable and what is not and their rulings are not up to discussion and can’t be arbitrary in nature

Back to the prime time viewing and what we are viewing on the television. What is out there for the male species? For the boys and men in our society of today we have total violence and sexuality. Bloodshed, murder, sexually explicit shows and vile language are the order of the day. But that's okay because we put a little disclaimer on before the show starts that tells us there is stuff in there that we shouldn't be watching to begin with. And that makes it all better. Vulgar cartoons and vulgar game shows, Howard Stern and Jerry Springer; sports shows with competitors that have no moral code of standings what so ever. Sportsmanship is gone; teams are now filled with vile thugs that fit more in a prison setting than on a field of athletics. And these we call our role models. There are very few decent role models to be found any longer. And all this violence is now very evident in the men of today. Date rape is up, domestic abuse is up, child abuse is up, and the list goes on and on, the number of such things is skyrocketing and the occurrences grow on a daily basis. Respect that used to be shown to a woman is just about gone; and respect of self is just about gone in men as well. This loss of respect isn’t just a local thing; this is all across the nation and around the world. Men, I talk to you as a father, a brother and a friend, I tell you in all certainty that as men of God we all need to take a stand for Jesus Christ and tell the world that we are a Christian and we are going to follow the principles of our Lord.
Commercials, what in the world are we trying to advertise? Everything is sexual in content, women are totally suggestive in nature, the men are dirty and unshaven, everyone is running around in rags and being vulgar, obnoxious and ignorant is cool. Ladies I tell you that my heart goes out to you when I look at the commercials that are on the television and I see the caliber of the men that are in them. It’s a rare thing to see a man in a commercial that is clean-shaven, his hair is combed and his clothes are not only clean but also not ripped and full of holes. If this is what you are being presented or offered to choose from when you are supposed to be looking for as a mate you don’t have much to pick from. Every other female species on the face of the earth is looking for the best of the best to have as a mate and what you are being offered is the dirtiest and the worst and looks like it came from the bottom of the barrel.

Many of today's commercials don't even relate to the product they are selling. Not only that but many of the products they are selling on the television shouldn't even be there; they're offensive to both men and women if you have any moral standards at all. Things that should be discussed in private between our selves and our doctor are now broadcast to the entire viewing population. There may be a need for many of these products but if there is, it's to be a private affair between only those who need to know. No one is saying that there isn’t a need for feminine hygiene products but they do not need to be broadcast to the world. Modesty deems they be a topic for women and spoken of by women, you may say that I am old fashioned but you also know I’m right! And if you do think I’m old fashioned you are one hundred percent correct in your evaluation, I am old fashioned! I know moral conviction and I know what is offensive to my Lord and what isn’t. And now so that I don’t come out appearing to be one sided, for you men because I haven’t forgotten about you. These products for “Male Enhancement” or performance; again there may be a need for such an item but it should be a private conversation between a husband, his wife and their doctor. Modesty is gone and vulgarity is the norm, and my friend be honest with your self, it's not right! It is not pleasing to God and it should not be pleasing to us. We should be taking a stand for our God, saying this isn't acceptable and letting those in control of the stations and programs know of our displeasure. God is God, right is right and vulgar is vulgar and if you try to mix these things together you are going to get a bowl of very sick and disgusting soup that should turn our stomachs. But we have become so used to eating this diet that we now find it acceptable and in some cases even desired. This is not what God wants for his people.

Today the big thing is "Reality shows". If they really wanted to show reality why don't we have reality commercials? "Drink our beer it's fun and the “In Thing” to do." And then show the people vomiting out their guts, sick as a dog and thinking maybe death would be better. Show the families that are destroyed, the lives lost, the heartache and grief this "fun and in thing" is bringing about at the cost of souls being lost due to it. Tell me the truth now. Have you ever seen a really attractive looking drunk? Have you ever seen a man or woman that was blasted out of their mind with booze, sick as a dog, vomiting their head off, the stomach retching, their heart and head pounding and spinning and said to yourself: “Boy that really looks like fun, I think I’d like to try that”. What does the Holy Scriptures have to say about this? (Ephesians 5:15-18) “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” Does that sound like what we are being fed through advertisements and the media? I think not. While the word of God is saying, “Be very careful, then how you live” the world is saying, “Grab all the gusto you can” and although they don’t say it in their adds it should be finished off with “regardless of the harm and destruction it will do”. “Be filled with the Spirit” now that’s a filling we can all love with, and the blessing is that it never causes a hangover, in fact we should want that residual effect to be flowing through us on a regular basis. We should want that residual effect flowing through us and flowing out of us to all the people around us. That’s the only high we need.

What are we learning from our music? Can we see the serpent hiding in today's music? You better believe you can! The majority of today's music promotes lurid sexuality, drug use and violence. And much if not most of that violence is directed towards women. Ladies you should be irate that you are so put down and insulted by the music industry. Open sexuality, drug use, and alcoholism, all open rebellion against God and the authority God established for our society. Much of the music that is out there is slapping our Lord in the face and making a mockery of the talents God has given so many of the singers, song writers and musicians. And now not only do we hear the music, we can view the music video that accompanies it. Music videos! Wonderful entertainment! Now we can watch the violence, the sexuality, and the degradation of the body, the thing that is to be the very temple of God. My friend the serpent needs to be put out of our homes if he’s hiding in the music we listen to us.

Sports figures, today's sports figures are not the hero’s of yesterday that some of us remember. Basketball isn't supposed to be a full contact, fist fighting sport. Baseball isn't supposed to be a bench-clearing fist fighting sport. Players from all the sports teams with few exceptions are being arrested for rape, drugs and yes, even murder. Just a few years ago there was a player on the Denver Broncos team that was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend. And not just the murder of the woman but the child she carried in her womb, his child, conceived out of wedlock, another violation of God’s law, and the fans outcry was; “Don't put him in jail, at least not until after the Super Bowl, he's a key player”. We have turned sports figures into little gods; we have posters of them in our homes, wear their jerseys and plaster their numbers everywhere. These people are not to be idolized or worshiped; they are little more than criminals with a million-dollar contract and have no moral character at all. We have idolized them and placed them on pedestals. We have put them in a place where only God should be. If you don't think I’m correct in my assumptions look at the number of people that flock into our football stadiums on a Sunday morning rather than into the church. Think of the number of dollars spent on a ticket to a game and how many of those dollars came right out of the tithe that belongs to God. Once while I was doing a Sunday school class for the adults the question was presented as to how would God honor the prayers of true believers in a football stadium if half were praying for victory for one team and half for the other? I believe it was by the Spirits prompting that I replied, why would God feel obligated to honor either group’s prayers if all of them were skipping church to go to the game? Of course it’s not that simple and not all football games are played on a Sunday, I guess that’s why if best to have God be God and allow him to work out the details of a question like that.

My friend each one of us has a responsibility to make sure that the serpent isn't hiding in our homes and although I have made much to do about the television it's not the only thing in the house where that old rascal can hide. The television is only the top of the iceberg and like any good iceberg the vast majority is always out of sight in the places of the deep where you can't see. With today's' technology Satan has really found a tool that he can hide in that makes the television look like a tinker toy for tots in light of the other item we have in our homes. By now I'm sure you can see where I'm going. The computer!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that to have a computer in our home is going to give us a direct shot to hell, no questions asked, leave your money at the door! Needless to say I have my computer in my home and for me it was a double blessing. I use it for writing all my material. Sermons, Sunday school material, just about everything I write. Letters and notes that lift the spirit of the brethren, things show concern and just to let people know that I love them and I'm thinking of them. Go on line and there is a wealth of knowledge to be found. The Bible dictionary, The Bible encyclopedia, find the answers to health issues, find recipes that can prolong life, find places to help troubled youth or rape hotlines. Even go shopping and find the best item for the best price. If we're getting the best bang for our bucks aren’t we being a good steward of the resources God had given us and isn’t that's a commendable thing? The computer is the basis of this entire ministry, without the computer this web site wouldn’t exist and I pray this is a blessing to you. But with the push of a button we can go into the vilest of places and experience sights and subjects that no one should ever see or experience. Sometimes we do it unexpectedly and sometimes we do it fully aware of what we are doing and still pursue the thing that we know is sinful. We feel that if we are in the privacy of our own home who is going to know? And of course we all know the answer to that, God will!

And so I ask you friend, “Is the serpent hiding in your house?” As you can see I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg, if we put our mind to it there can be hundreds of thing in the house that should not be there, and if they do have a valid reason for being there they don’t belong in public view.

These are difficult days we are living in. We have a responsibility to our Lord and we have peer pressure from our friends, co-workers, schoolmates, family members and neighbors. But none of this is new; it’s all been going around for thousands of years. We may have altered the way it’s being presented but the subject matter has been there before, we’ve only perfected the way it gets to us. The serpent is crafty and he’s got a lot of experience under his belt, he’s been tricking mankind for a long time and he’s really good at his game. And so you ask, “what are we to do?” What can I do in this crazy world of perversion and insanity? Where can I go for help and answers? Is there an escape to be found from this paradox of life? You bet there is! When in doubt; go to your “Owners Manual”. Remember the acronym BIBLE, “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth”. Every direction or instruction you will need for life is in there. Every answer to every situation we can face is in there. I don’t care who you are, where you work, or where you go. I don’t care how many people are involved, what the circumstances entail or what you are trying to accomplish; the instructions for that situation are in here.

There are a couple of things we have to do. First we need to use it, we have to read it and search the pages for the treasures it contains. We have to know what it says, and have a basic knowledge of how to find what we’re looking for. Then we are going to have to make a decision, whom do you want to follow? Do you want to follow God or do you want to follow the world? (Galatians 1:10) says; “Am I trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” So, whom do you want to serve, God or the serpent, do we want to serve God or do we want to serve Satan? We have to make a choice, God or the world? If we choose God, he brings us salvation, constant fellowship and eternal life. If we choose the world it brings fleeting joy, false friendships and it will abandon us in a heartbeat when we need it most. The things of the world are temporal but the things of God are eternal, they are forever. The choice is ours to make, God is a gentleman, he never forces us, he never makes us do anything against our will but he has given us free will. (Joshua 24:14-15) “ "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." The choice is ours to make, which of the two options will we choose to follow, the false gods of the Amorites or the One True God? Each of us had to make a choice, I know what choice I’ve made, and I pray that you will do likewise. As I have already said God doesn’t force us, we have a choice and God has laid out the options in very clear language. I love the Old Testament; it’s so rich in history and wisdom. If we were to look at Deuteronomy 28 we will see that there are 14 verses that outline the blessings that will come when we’re walking the heavenly highway, but there are 58 that outline the path of the serpent’s roadway to hell. God is quite opinionated about how he wants us to conduct ourselves.

We need to remember; each one of us is an independent person, a totally separate individual who is accountable to God and responsible to for our own choice and path we elect to follow. All of life is before us and we each select the road we want to take. (1st Corinthians 15:33) says: “Do not be mislead, bad company corrupts good character.” We can pick our friends, we can pick our lifestyle, and we can pick what we bring into our homes. All of these options are ours to make. I’m not saying that we should have nothing to do with the sinners of the world, were this the case, we couldn’t even associate with ourselves since we are all sinners, we are just saved by grace. As a matter of fact our job, our calling as a church is to reach out to the least the last and the lost. If Jesus didn’t hang around with the sinners of his time he would have spent most of his life alone, he hung out with the sinners but he was sin free.

The apostle Paul understood this principle; in (1st Corinthians 5:9-10) he tells us that if we were to try to get away from sin completely we would have to leave this world. “I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world”.
But we as Christians are to be at a higher lever of morality than those who follow the pattern of the world and I fear we aren’t doing that as much as we used to. We’re allowing the serpent into our homes, and into our daily lives. Do you realize Christian marriages are ending in divorce at the same rate as secular marriages or maybe even at a higher rate now depending on what pole you are listening to? Friend the serpent is loose in the house! I used to like the old bumper sticker that said; “Christians aren’t perfect just forgiven”. I’m not that thrilled with that sticker any longer, for many of us it became a license to do what we were not to be doing and just relying on the forgiveness.

So now the choice is up to each of us to make. Once we’ve made our choice, once the line in the sand is drawn, it’s up to us to hold our ground and not look back. The book of James tells us not to be double minded and when it comes to our homes and allowing the serpent in we really have to be single minded about it. We need to get him, that old nasty serpent, Satan, out and keep him out. So how do we start? By removing as many serpents as possible from the house. If it’s vile or vulgar and it’s on the tube turn it off. Watch something else or find a wholesome alternative. You’re not going to believe this but there are actually a great many books out there that are good for the eye and the spirit. We need to expand our minds and expand our apologetics. If we love is music, find something that we would not be embarrassed to sing before our mother or father or better yet our Lord. If we’d be embarrassed to sing it before any of these people, we shouldn’t be singing it to begin with.

A really good rule of thumb is to follow the advice found in (Deuteronomy 7:26); “Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction.” These things the serpent likes to tempt us with are much easier to avoid if we don’t bring it into the house to begin with. Those serpents are kind of strange, once they get in they like to hide in the dark places of the house, those places where you don’t think to look all the time and once they are in they will bite us when the opportunity arises. Granted every once in a while that bite will cause instant death but for the most part it’s a slow and painful life suffering most of the time and the recovery is often very hard and almost as painful as the bite it’s self. You see when this serpent attacks his bite is small to begin with and then each time he bites he bites a little deeper and takes more from us, more from our will and more from our conscience. It’s just one bite, it’s just one show or just one glimpse of that image, what can it hurt, and then next week it’s just one more look or glimpse, what can it hurt? And all the while the poison is spreading through us, slowly killing us off a little at a time. And we keep telling ourselves, “I’m strong in the Lord, it’s not going to get me, I can handle it.” And the serpent is always biting and the poison is spreading.
Jesus told us in John 8:44 that Satan is the father of lies and he’s been lying to men and women for a long time and will continue until the Lord returns. It started with Eve in the garden when he approached her and is an on-going problem today but that old serpent is open to defeat if we will just allow God his rightful place in our homes and our life. He likes to hide in the house but there’s one thing he doesn’t like, LIGHT! We need to fill our house with light; fill our house with the light of God’s word. We need to surround ourselves with it, fill ourselves with it, and bath ourselves in it. And when our house is filled with God’s light the serpent will leave. He’s not a real congenial kind of creature and he doesn’t get along with God, James says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you”. Turn on Gods light and Satan goes away, back into the dark places, the places where the light isn’t reaching. And if our home is filled with light, Satan, that slinky creature will leave. The choice is ours to make, will be live in the light of God or live in the shadow of the serpent? If he’s in our homes we can tell him to leave, he won’t like it but he will. Why? Because he doesn’t like God, he doesn’t like God’s people when they know God’s word and he doesn’t like God’s light. Allow me to close with a verse that we can bank on, a verse that says it all.

1st Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of the darkness and into his wonderful light.” Walk in God’s light, sing in God’s light, live in God’s light and allow God’s Spirit to fill our homes with the light of lights that will never leave us.
Grace & peace